Venture for America, which bet on entrepreneurship to revitalize cities, has abruptly shut down

A national nonprofit that placed college graduates with startups to spark growth in cities around the country has shut down operations citing “economic headwinds.”

After more than a decade of helping young adults find jobs in innovation ecosystems, Venture for America fired nearly all of its full-time staffers, affecting 15 people, and is no longer in operation, CEO Carrie Murphy confirmed to Technical.ly.

A Tuesday email from Murphy and VFA Board Chair Dorie Smith, an investor whose LinkedIn notes a job in Goldman Sachs corporate philanthropy, announced the changes, effective that same day. 

“Due to the challenging economic environment, there has been a decline in venture funding for company partners, impacting both revenue and fellow placements,” Murphy wrote. “Together with economic headwinds and shifting priorities, this has led to ongoing fundraising challenges.”

She and COO Betsye Park will stay on as part-time contractors to complete the shutdown, with the goal of wrapping up by Oct. 31, she said.

Founded in 2011 by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang with inspiration from Teach for America, VFA is the latest in a string of tech-focused nonprofit organizations to suddenly close. Unlike Benefits Data Trust or Byte Back, each of which gave no public indication of financial duress until pulling the plug, Venture for America’s unstable footing had become increasingly apparent.

The nonprofit’s latest publicly available tax records, from 2022, note revenue of $5.3 million but a negative net income of -$1.1 million, with $2.88 million in assets and $751,000 in liabilities.

Last October, Detroit-based VFA laid off seven people during a restructuring. Then-CEO Eric Somerville said the changes were informed by the organization’s 2022 annual plan and a desire to more efficiently uplift its founder-fellows; Murphy, a former chief programs officer and Cleveland site director, replaced him at the helm about seven months later. 

It’s unclear what support, if any, the organization will be able to offer its current cohort of “fellows,” VFA’s term for the grads it placed. 

“For those in the job search process, there is no longer a requirement to work for a VFA company partner or move to a VFA city,” Murphy said. “However, we will support the connection between hiring partners and our fellows as best we can and encourage them to reflect on their personal mission and the reasons they joined the organization.”

Over VFA’s existence, more than 950 companies hired its participants for two-year stints in over a dozen cities, creating a network of over 1,600 alumni, according to the organization, which says alums created more than 375 companies and raised over $1 billion in venture capital. 

“The legacy of Venture For America is the strong community it has built,” Murphy and Smith said. “The relationships, connections, and network created will continue to thrive beyond the organization’s operational existence.”

Though the organization had moved away from founder Yang’s initial mission of creating 100,000 jobs, it continued to place people in cities like Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Philadelphia, with the goal that these college grads would channel experiences with early-stage companies into their own startups (including through VFA’s accelerator) or other influential positions within the community.

It also invested human capital in these cities by hiring city directors to support local fellows and programming through community events, fundraising and other efforts. Some of these directors moved into national leadership positions. For instance, Erica Myers went from overseeing VFA’s Baltimore work to becoming its national development director in fall 2023; according to her LinkedIn, she stopped serving in this position as of July. 

The organization’s impact was heralded enough that in 2020, the City of Philadelphia named it one of four entities, including Technical.ly, to share a $500,000 investment as part of the PHL: Most Diverse Tech Hub (MDTH) initiative. The municipal government renewed this partnership in 2022 and 2023.

This is a developing story. If you are affected by the Venture for America closure and would like to share your experience, please email info@technical.ly.